Vanilla Fudge – The Beat Goes On album art

4 Comments on “Vanilla Fudge – The Beat Goes On album art”

1. Florian Hardwig says:

   Dec 14th, 2024 6:38 pm

   The lines in other scripts are handwritten and appear to represent translations of the title.

   The Russian “В РИТМЕ ТАНЦА” actually translates to something like “In the Rhythm of Dance”.

   Tanya George chimes in on the Indic scripts at the top:

   It says on the left in Bengali তাল চলতেছে (Tal Choltechhe)
   I checked this with a Bangla speaker and they said this is the Bangladeshi Bengali way of writing it. It could also be spelled slightly differently.

   The Hindi on the right says ताल चलते है (Taal Chalte hain). I know it predates it but the Hindi feels Google translate-ish. While I understand the translation and it “works”, it’s not how one would translate “The Beat Goes On”.

   Natan Gesher comments:

   Also, the Hebrew on the cover says המקצב לא יפסק, which means “the rhythm won’t be stopped” (kind of like “the beat goes on,” but not quite). Also, it’s written with vowels (הַמִקצָב לֹא יִפָּסֵק), as if it’s a religious text that must be pronounced exactly in the correct way, or for children who don’t yet know how to read well, which is so weird.

   The second-to-last line reminded me of South-East Asian scripts. Ben Mitchell confirms:

   Indeed it is Burmese. And of course, it’s upside down! စည်းချမျဲချ။

   A good reminder to always ask someone with expertise before engaging in unfamiliar scripts or languages! Luckily, that’s a lot easier today than back in 1968.

2. Reybach C says:

   Dec 14th, 2024 8:06 pm

   Is there any more information about Stromberg Graphic? Its appearance interests me and I haven’t seen anything such as a glyph sheet for it, only the one liner.

3. Florian Hardwig says:

   Dec 14th, 2024 10:36 pm

   Not much beyond what we’ve compiled on the typeface page, alas. It was released by Photo-Lettering sometime between 1965 and 1967. In their 1971 catalog, it’s listed as the only typeface design credited to Harvey ‘Hank’ Stromberg. Via his brother Gary, we learned that he passed away in 2006. Hank is best remembered today for “one of the most well-known pranks in art history”.

   The Photo-Lettering assets – probably including the original plates for Stromberg Graphic – were acquired by House Industries in 2003. I’ve just posted another use for this funky naïve gem which features a good deal more of its character set.

   

4. Reybach C says:

   Dec 16th, 2024 5:58 am

   Thank you very much for the info, Florian! I did read about Hank Stromberg’s exhibit at MoMA, which fascinated me as I haven’t seen anything like that before, and may he rest in peace. I really do admire his half blocky, half geometrically circular font, it’s one of a kind – plus, I have found a few more groovy examples, thanks to Discogs that have yet to be posted!